Am re-posting this here so that I don't end up playing Parrot every year out of forgetfulness.
Plus a minor addition.
About the "New Year" celebrated in the west:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It's the <i>Roman</i> New Year - it has NOTHING AT ALL to do with christianism.
It was a sacred Roman festival. January being the month of the God Janus, a two-faced God whose one face looked to the past and the other to the future. That's why Ancient Romans celebrated the Old Year (remembering) and New Year (looking forward, resolutions).
What my sister told me about Ovidius' <i>Fasti</i> (which is a work on sacred Greco-Roman Feasts, ~8 CE?), is that Ovid asks Janus why the New Year is celebrated at winter time instead of livelier spring. And Janus answers that that's when the Sun is reborn (new Sun during the solstice).
Christians ought not to be celebrating the Roman New Year at all. It is a celebration of <b>Roman Gods</b>. And jeebusjehovallah - the evil non-existent gawd of christianism - will not like christos joining in. If the gawd had existed, it will be busy preparing its non-existent hell for all the christos celebrating the Roman New Year or even wishing "Happy New Year" to others. Christians should stick to their festivals... their festival.... - can't think of any christian festival... they should just stick to worshipping their non-existent dead man suspended on a stauros (stake).
Hindus of course have their own sacred New Years. But there is nothing wrong in honouring the ancient Greco-Romans and particularly their Gods by wishing others a Happy Roman New Year - if any feels so inclined.
The most important point to remember is that the Roman New Year is NOT a secular festival at all, but a Roman religious one.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Added:</b>
Not really about the New Year, but still on the matter of Janus and Ovid's Fasti, the following is still from what I remember my sister telling me:
In Fasti, Ovid asks Janus that since the other Roman Gods can be traced to a Greek origin, what is Janus' Greek equivalent? And Janus identifies himself as Kaos, the God from which all things originally came, the one who was always there (primeval, the origin).
I wonder whether Chaos implies the beginning of the Kosmos <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Plus a minor addition.
About the "New Year" celebrated in the west:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It's the <i>Roman</i> New Year - it has NOTHING AT ALL to do with christianism.
It was a sacred Roman festival. January being the month of the God Janus, a two-faced God whose one face looked to the past and the other to the future. That's why Ancient Romans celebrated the Old Year (remembering) and New Year (looking forward, resolutions).
What my sister told me about Ovidius' <i>Fasti</i> (which is a work on sacred Greco-Roman Feasts, ~8 CE?), is that Ovid asks Janus why the New Year is celebrated at winter time instead of livelier spring. And Janus answers that that's when the Sun is reborn (new Sun during the solstice).
Christians ought not to be celebrating the Roman New Year at all. It is a celebration of <b>Roman Gods</b>. And jeebusjehovallah - the evil non-existent gawd of christianism - will not like christos joining in. If the gawd had existed, it will be busy preparing its non-existent hell for all the christos celebrating the Roman New Year or even wishing "Happy New Year" to others. Christians should stick to their festivals... their festival.... - can't think of any christian festival... they should just stick to worshipping their non-existent dead man suspended on a stauros (stake).
Hindus of course have their own sacred New Years. But there is nothing wrong in honouring the ancient Greco-Romans and particularly their Gods by wishing others a Happy Roman New Year - if any feels so inclined.
The most important point to remember is that the Roman New Year is NOT a secular festival at all, but a Roman religious one.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Added:</b>
Not really about the New Year, but still on the matter of Janus and Ovid's Fasti, the following is still from what I remember my sister telling me:
In Fasti, Ovid asks Janus that since the other Roman Gods can be traced to a Greek origin, what is Janus' Greek equivalent? And Janus identifies himself as Kaos, the God from which all things originally came, the one who was always there (primeval, the origin).
I wonder whether Chaos implies the beginning of the Kosmos <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->